All VOL at checkups

The best part about football season being here again...the fact that I have a new baby to share it with.

Penelope is already one month old and we are loving every moment with her.  In one month we have already found so many differences between she and Adelaide that you would be shocked they are sisters.  At Penelope's one month doctors appointment she weighed in at exactly 10 pounds.  TEN POUNDS, wow!  For a comparison, A was only 7  pounds, 9 ounces at her one month appointment and 10 pounds 10 ounces at 4 months old.  

The doctor was happy with her growth and said she looked perfect at the one month check up.  She also confirmed that I wasn't crazy and my daughter wasn't Wonder Woman because she was already rolling over from front to back.  Apparently this doesn't usually happen until 2 or 3 months because most parents aren't giving their newborns enough tummy time.  The ironic part about giving P tummy time is that A always wants to do it with her, many of you will remember how much A HATED tummy time and would scream like crazy.  Now A runs to get her White Nigh Nigh (now tan blanket) and throws it on the floor next to the tummy mat so that she can also participate.  The next most important topic is sleep, I am getting up with her twice a night with around 4-5 hour stretches at night.  Our next milestone to accomplish is smiling and hopefully getting rid of all of the scowls.

Adelaide is still completely infatuated with Penelope, if she is away from her for any length of time A starts looking for P or repeatedly asks where she is.  A also had her check up with the pediatrician and believe it or not she is now making a little bit of progress on the growth chart.  A is now weighing in at a whopping 25.1 pounds and 35 inches.  Sleep is still a little rough in our house.  I don't know if it is me staying home with A, turning 3, bringing home the baby or all of the above because for the last 5 weeks A has been giving me a really rough time at night.  She screams, cries and at some points is simply hysterical and I don't know what to do for her.  Grant has spent many nights in her bed and then when he leaves and she wakes up the screaming starts again.  We are just trying to keep our cool with all of this new found 3 year old drama.  Whoever said they were terrible twos was completely incorrect when you look at our world.  I would trade the threes for twos at any time.  

3 year checkup

Adelaide - 25.1 Pounds (3rd percentile), 35 inches (5th percentile)

1 month checkup

Penelope - 10 pounds (75th percentile), 22 inches (90th percentile)

Oh yes, the "she's touching me" fun has already begun.

P's once brown eyes are turning blue.

"I see you"

Photog

Going to a professional photographer is not something that the Gasbarro family does.  For Mothers Day after Adelaide was born Grant bought me a Nikon dslr.  Part of the deal with purchasing the camera was that we wouldn't have to go to a photographer, Grant hates getting his photo taken if he has to pose.  When Grant and I got married 8 years ago all of the photos taken were very posed, but things are completely different now.  More candid shots are what everyone seems to be doing now.  So I went completely against what Grant wanted and the photographer was at our house when Penelope was a week and a half old.  

I am proud to say that Grant was a happy Daddy with the process and the results.  So happy in fact that we could not pick just a few photos and instead bought them all.  So here they are, just a few photos of our girls in our home.

Our little Penelope in her Sweet Pea hat.

This photo is not a stretch of the imagination, A always messing with P.

Daddy loves his girls.

Just a normal day, everyone piled on the couch.

YaYa was caught snuggling and she didn't know it until the proofs came in.

3 Years and 3 Weeks

The week of 3s in our house!  Penelope the 3 week old chunk is sleep approximately 3 hours at a time and Adelaide the 3 year old pip squeak is saying, "my birthday" approximately 3 times a minute.

A's birthday fell on a Friday this year and her party wasn't scheduled until the next day so when I asked her where she wanted to go out to lunch she said chicken nuggets - off to Chick-fil-A we went.  Taking an already cute kid into a public place always brings comments from the crowd, but when you put a birthday tiara on her head you get great service, free ice cream and a TON of attention whether you want it or not.  Grr was able to get off from work just in time to meet us too.  Weird fact - Russ had never been to a Chick-fil-A before, unimaginable in my world.

A birthday wouldn't be complete without two meals out, so when GG came to town we also had to go to Adelaide's favorite "out to lunch" spot - Panera.  Daddy and Pap were at the Jags game so we made it a girls night out.

Two meals out was enough for one day - on to the actual birthday.  We started our day out with a few Panera bagels to fuel up for A's first dance class.

Tried to get her to practice before we left, but she kept slipping around on the floors and wouldn't move.

On our way to class she was so excited in her new dance gear and then we got there and ALL of the other kids towered over her and she was expecting to go into the gym with Mommy and Daddy which became a problem.  This was the part that I was anxious about, what happened when the classroom doors closed and Mommy and Daddy weren't with her anymore.  You guessed it - screaming, crying and the most pitiful face you have ever seen.
I tried staying on the other side of the glass door and then I walked away hoping out of sight out of mind.  Nope, neither worked.  No worries though, Daddy stepped in to save the day and help her for the rest of the class.

A's name is in there somewhere.

Thinking of investing in some new tap shoes for G, the sandals weren't doing the job.

We made it through the dance class though it was painful, now it is party time!  If you are sitting there thinking, man this is the first year I didn't get an invite, it is because they didn't go out.  We wanted extremely low key, family only and uneventful considering the 3 week bundle of joy we had with us.  So to keep the new dance class theme going, YaYa and Grr hosted a ballerina party for A.
The party was small this year, but we had some special out of town guests:  The Mesicks, Gasbarros and Longs came in town for cake, pool time and Grr's yummy food.

All that she wanted for her birthday was a yellow cake.

An outfit change and she was ready to party!

Yes, I'm sitting on the table and I'm thinking about eating that cake before lunch.

A family of girls - pink rules in this family.

An attempt at a family photo.

Yay, we officially made it through 3 years with minimal scratches and bruises.

Mommy made a little wish too.

Saturday was exhausting, but we made it through another birthday party.  Before everyone left on Sunday we did have everyone over to our house for breakfast and a little more play time for the birthday girl.

Yep, going on facebook.

Aunt Net helping to distribute potty prizes.

Look at me I'm jumping on my new birthday present.  

A wasn't the only one playing with the balloons.

Another year has come and gone and A has made some tremendous progress catching up with her milestones.  Verbal skills have been expanded, especially after spending a few weeks at home with Mommy.  Physically A can now run, walk on her tip toes, kick a ball, blow bubbles instead of try to eat them and we are working on the jumping.  This coming year should be interesting to see not only the progress that A makes, but all of things that she will teach P.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the party and to those who weren't able to make it but sent gifts, cards and called A with birthday wishes and songs.  We cherish each moment with our big girl and know that each of you make our lives that much more enjoyable.

Operation Button

So the race is on for Operation Button.  Don't know what I am talking about...my sister is getting married in Greece which means I have until May 1st when I board a plane to Venice to be able to not only button my pants, but they had better be a much smaller size.

This is one of the last photos taken of me just days before Penelope's arrival.  So my inspiration is to go from the above to the below in a healthy safe way while keeping up with breastfeeding Penelope for at least 6 months unless I go and do something crazy like get a job which will throw a monkey wrench into things.

In the Bahamas and about 15 pounds heavier than my goal weight.

So how am I going to do it?  In the past I have used Weight Watchers, but that was before I had Adelaide and then again after I had her and getting around with no babies and then just one was much easier.  So this time I am going to try and save my $12 a week and go at this a little differently.
1. Tracking - I am on day 2 of this and I have terrified myself at the realization already in to how much high calorie food I love and want to eat.  I am using the app loseit on my ipad to keep up with my intake.  Of course I have to add about 500 extra calories a day so that I can keep up with P.
2. Accountability - Yep, if you notice to the right of my blog post there is a ticker now for weight loss.  No way will I put out there my starting weight and end goal, but I am publishing how many pounds I am down and hopefully not up.
3.  Exercise - Once the weather cools off my hope is to be able to start walking places with the girls.  The great thing about our neighborhood is that we pay a premium for great amenities.  We have parks, pools, wide sidewalks, golf, nature trails, shopping, schools, restaurants etc.  Also, there is a group called Stroller Striders that I want to join probable next month.
So there will be no ground breaking diet, earth shattering secret to success or anything note worthy here. Just a little peer pressure, a scale, sneakers and a promise of giant diamond earrings if and when I hit my goal.
The plan is to update the weight ticker on Fridays so stay posted.

A few weeks old and a few hours of sleep.

I can't say that the family is bright eyed these days, but we are hanging in there.  In fact my eyes seem to have more red than brown when I took the two seconds to look in the mirror recently.  I remember wasting my day away when Adelaide was born by just staring at her.  At one point Grant did inform me that I would need to leave the bedroom eventually.  I had everything I needed in there between the tv, snacks, diapers, etc. there was no reason to venture to any other part of the house.  Not so much the case this time.  In fact I feel as though my bed is missing me and is calling my name often, unfortunately I am unable to answer. 

The days are speeding by between chasing Adelaide, soothing Penelope and her sensitive belly, feeding the growing monster as often as I physically can and trying to keep up with normal life.  Grant can be found either on the way to, at or on the way home from work at least 11 or 12 hours out of the day.  I won't go into any details of his current work circumstances other than to say that the timing is horrible to be this busy.

Adelaide is keeping me on my toes, this turning into a three year old is exhausting for me.  Oh and if anyone has an fool proof potty training tips I would love to hear them.  She was doing well before I took her and out school and then showed up with this little screamer called Penelope.  I'm trying to get her into the school districts therapy program, but that isn't going smoothly.  As of Friday she will have officially aged out of the current state programs that we have her in which leaves the question of what do I do now.  I'm also looking into preschool for her which would be 2 half days a week.  This hasn't been as easy as I anticipated especially when I am calling around and child centers are asking for $145 a week for 8 hours of care!  At that rate I might as well hire a babysitter by the hour just to help with her energy level.  

We are all anxiously awaiting the weather to cool off.  Last night we went for a short walk to the park, because it was the first evening it's been under 90 after dinner.  After the weather starts to turn in a few weeks and we aren't sequestered to the house, I think it will help all of our cabin fever.

Penelope update - growing like a weed!  She is out of the newborn diapers, almost completely out of her newborn clothes and has turned into a complete chow hound.  I swear every time I try to get something accomplished around the house she is screaming to eat, it may be a long six months of breastfeeding for me.

 Our first week out of the hospital we had visitors from all over the place, including the Dutchies from Topton and Alburtis.  This was a great distraction for Adelaide as her cousin Gunnar gave her every bit of attention she could have wanted.  It was also nice to have people around to talk to.  Grant was getting home anywhere between 9 and 10:30 at night, which pretty much meant we said good night and hoped to see each other the next day.

Not a fan of her first bath at home, but she now loves it!

Adelaide, my little helper,  puts lotion on P every night after bath.

Testing out the girls new car.  We only went about 5 houses away before we were covered in sweat and my stitches hurt, but at least we made an effort.

11 days old and posing for the camera - check out her cheeks!  

Our new routine now includes a weekly visit to the library, one of the only places I can think of that isn't shopping, but has plenty of air conditioning.

A in the library castle.

I may not get much sleep, but some people do.

I understand this feeling - more sleep please.

My little girls toes, thanks for the matching blankets Bray Family!

Ok, so I promise not every photo of them will include matching clothing, but you have to admit it is cute and won't be long before they won't let it happen.  I can remember my mom doing this to my sisters and I, Jeannette hated it!  Oh and my Mom did buy these shirts, ha!

Be still my heart!

Look closely and you can see some of her old man wrinkles on her forehead.